Weather Report: Tom Skilling 7-Day Forecast WGN-TV Weather Center.

Storm watches across 10 states

rain/sleet/snow mix--then all snow

February 15, 2006|By Tom Skilling

A wave of snow in the Chicago area Wednesday night, expected to generate 1-2" totals, appears only the opening act of a broader winter storm to assemble at the leading edge of a bitterly cold late season arctic outbreak in coming days. That storm, likely to reach peak intensity Thursday and Thursday night, threatens accumulations of more than half a foot within 60 miles of Chicago, across Wisconsin and far northern Illinois. A messy atmospheric cocktail of rain, ice pellets, wet snow--and even the potential for thunderstorms--is predicted for Chicago Thursday. But any southward jog in Thursday's storm track could move significant snow closer to the city earlier than the second period of accumulating snow expected to reach the city Thursday night as temperatures drop. It's rare for tempera-tures to vary as sharply across a winter storm as will be the case Thursday. A 70 m.p.h. south wind above the raw, chilly NE winds expected at ground level sets the stage for thundery downpours which are likely to be mixed with ice pellets. Spells of impressive snowfall can't be ruled out, especially northwest sections. Any change in the storm track could boost snowfall in Chicago.

Sources: NOAA-NCEP, NWS Chicago temperature archives, Frank Wachowski

WGN-TV/Thomas Valle, Zach Albers, Jen Nagle

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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.